Antigenic Cross-reactivity of Major Outer Membrane Proteins in Enterobacteriaceae Species

Abstract

293The protein constituents in the outer membrane (OM) of several serotypes of Escherichia coli and some other Enterobacteriaceae cross-reacted antigenically. Solubilized OM preparations of these bacteria were applied in interfacial precipitin tests to antisera elicited in rabbits against whole bacterial cells, absorbed with their appropriate lipopolysaccharide before testing. The resulting immunecomplexes were analysed on polyacrylamide gels. Protein profiles of the imrnunoprecipitates showed a considerable antigenic cross-reactivity of outer membrane proteins between most E. coli serotypes. Cross-reactivity, though substantially lower, was also found with OM from three other Enterobacteriaceae species, but was not detectable with Pseudomonas aeruginosa OM. When OM preparations were solubilized at room temperature, the peptidoglycan-bound proteins in the molecular weight range 37000 to 41000 predominated in the protein profiles of the immunecomplexes. In profiles of immunecomplexes obtained with boiled OM preparations, a heat-modifiable protein (mol. wt 33000) predominated. The major OM proteins of the Gram-negative bacterium may therefore play a role as common surface antigens of the family of Enterobacteriaceae.

Yersinia enterocolitica immunodominant 60 kDa antigen, common to a broad range of bacteria, is a heat-shock protein

“…CRPA is different from Kunin's enterobacterial common antigen (Kunin, 1963), which is an amino sugar heteropolymer, and from Hofstra's common antigen (Hofstra & Dankert, 1979), which is found in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria (Yamaguchi et al, 1986). However, the 62 kDa antigen originally identified in Pseudomonas has been shown to be an antigen common to Gram-negative bacteria, the so-called common antigen (CA) (Hleriby, 1975;Jensen et al, 1985;Sompolinsky et al, 1980).…”

Taxonomic Application of Crossed Immunoelectrophoresis

“…The pattern of cross-reactivity between Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other bacterial species (34), as well as patterns obtained in a number of subsequent studies of other bacterial species, indicated a close correlation between the number of cross-reactive antigens between bacterial species and their taxonomic relatedness as defined by more traditional methods (8,9,11,13,14,16,18,20,22,23,27,30,32,34,41,42,45,46,49,51,54,56,57,60,62,64). The purpose of the present paper was therefore to assess the taxonomic relevance of antigenic cross-reactivity patterns.…”

Maltoporins and maltose-binding proteins of Yersinia enterocolitica

“…MBP and OmpM of Y. enterocolitica like some of its other proteins e.g. OmpA, OmpH, the murein lipoproteins and the porins, are probably structurally highly conserved within members of the Enterobacteriaceae (Hofstra et al, 1980;Palva, 1983 …”